Gambellan
Governor's Visit Brings International Publicity to Genocide Despite Attempts to
Evict Press
June 5, 2008
Thanks
to the visit from the government-appointed governor of Gambella, Omot Obang
Olum, himself a suspected genocide collaborator, the story of the genocide of
the Anuak on December 13-15, 2003 has reached an international audience through
the Associated Press' story that is now circulating in thousands newspapers
throughout the world. The Anuak Justice Council counts this a great victory for
unveiling the truth about the heinous crimes committed by the EPRDF military
and government-incited militia groups against the Anuak.
On May 31, 2008, the Anuak Community Association of North
America (ACANA), hosted a meeting in Minneapolis where Omot Obang Olum,
accompanied by five other Gambella government officials, was invited to meet
with the Anuak community for the first time following the genocide. Many Anuak
objected to the meeting and some boycotted it as the wrong way to address the
man they hold responsible for the massacre of 424 of their relatives, friends
and community members.
The head of the community, Akway Cham, voiced his stance
that ACANA was simply providing a place where Anuak could ask the hard
questions, hoping that it would aid Anuak in dealing with this loss so that
they could better help the community back home.
But, the Ethiopian government officials had a different
goal. Evasion, denial, deceit and
illusion reigned. At one point, Akway
Cham felt pressed to confront Omot Olum and the other members of the panel for
evasive answers and asked them to give more direct answers, but most felt that
the lies, deceit, manipulation of the facts and outrageous denials of what
everyone knew to be the truth, continued anyway.
Signs
of this were apparent even before the meeting when the long arms of Mr. Meles
Zenawi attempted to reach across the world to exert its TPLF-style repression
of the press at the Four Points Sheraton in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They wanted
to make sure that they maintained perfect control of information and therefore,
they did not want the press there, of which there were six present. Among them
was one of the best friends the Anuak have in the press, Doug McGill. Who did
they choose to harass? None other than McGill!
Doug
McGill was a previous reporter for the New York Times, a bureau chief for
Bloomberg News in Tokyo, London and Hong Kong. He is also a teacher and an
independent journalist. When the Anuak massacre occurred, his Anuak friend
enlisted his support and he became the voice of the Anuak even traveling to
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and to the refugee camp in Pochalla, Sudan to investigate
and report on the human rights crimes. However, before the meeting, one
non-Anuak Ethiopian-probably a representative of the Meles regime-warned McGill
that he was "not invited to this meeting" and told him that "this is not for
you!"
As
the meeting was supposed to start, McGill was sitting with an Anuak translator
and other press when this same man came with the hotel manager and a few others
of similar mindset to shamelessly force McGill out of the meeting. As they
attempted to evict McGill, McGill warned him that it would be in violation to
the Bill of Rights providing freedom of the press and that he would get a
lawyer and sue for this infringement of those rights. At least one of those
Anuak in charge said privately, "This is America and we follow the laws of this
country. He should stay!"
Akway
Cham intervened and told McGill that he could stay and asked him to agree to
not ask any questions. He told him he would give him an opportunity for a
private meeting following the larger meeting. McGill agreed to this. However,
it appeared that the decision to allow him to stay created a reaction from the
Ethiopian Embassy headquarters in Washington D.C. as there was some advice to
then cancel the meeting. The whole decision process further delayed the
beginning of the meeting significantly due to some alleged division between
decision makers. Finally, nearly an hour later, it was decided to hold the
meeting.
However,
as the meeting began, it became apparent that language was going to be used to
obstruct communication-to the obvious advantage of the Meles government. The audience was told that it would not be in
English-a common language to most after living in the US for so long-but
instead, it would be conducted in Amharic, Anuak and Nuer rather than in
English, Anuak and Nuer. Many of the Anuak are not very proficient in Amharic
and have not spoken the language since they came to the United States. Some Anuak have no understanding of it at all
having grown up in Sudan. Regardless, even the governor, Omot Olum, spoke
Amharic rather than his indigenous language, Anuak.
When Anuak opposed this, he refused to change to the Anuak
language. Some hours later into the meeting, he finally did. Some were
suspecting that this was a tactic used to create one more impediment to the
press, as fewer Anuak could interpret it or even understand it. Additionally,
it was seen as a possible tactic by those non-Anuak government officials to
monitor closely what was being said.
Regardless, the Anuak interpreter for the McGill, the Associate Press
and others was very proficient in both languages.
The
reception of these Gambella leaders by the Anuak was diverse, but heroes of the
day emerged. To start with, some boycotted the meeting, refusing to enter into
a dialogue under these tightly controlled conditions with a "criminal"-someone
they believed was directly responsible for the killing of the Anuak. These are people who stood up for their
principles. In doing so, they stood up for truth and justice and against
political propaganda, especially given through the mouth of a suspected "perpetrator
of genocide." They were convinced that lies and enticements from the government
would be laid out to entrap the Anuak into coming back to invest their money so
that they would forget about the horrors of what happened to their loved ones.
Some
others decided to attend the meeting, most giving the delegation a cool but
civil reception. A number of these showed determination and courage as they
asked hard questions, convinced that they wanted to stand up to face this man
to hold him accountable for what he had done. Many were frustrated that they never
had a chance to ask their questions. Some even spoke out at the meeting that
they were being deliberately screened from asking questions because they would
not be favorable to Omot Olum.
Of
those given the chance to ask the questions-about twenty-only about five of
those questions were not directly related to the genocide. These questions
directly confronted Omot Olum with the hard facts that contradicted the elusive
answers and denials he continued to present to the listeners.
The
Anuak all knew that Olum had been the Chief of Security for the region at the
time and that he had been the one who most believed had provided the names of
the over 400 Anuak leaders who were later targeted and killed during the
massacre. Only an Anuak who knew the Anuak community and knew those among them
who would be the greatest threat to the government control of regional affairs
could have provided that list.
The
beliefs were corroborated by reports from Genocide Watch, Human Rights Watch
and others where testimony from witnesses all concurred that Omot Olum was the
one to come up with the list even though Olum denied there was any list,
calling it "misinformation." Omot Olum,
never answered, "No, I did not do it," or "Yes, I did," but instead kept asking
rhetorical questions like, "Why would I give the names of my own people?" Or,
"Would I forget Ethiopian law?" Or, "I didn't have the right under God to do
it." However, many of the victims' in
Gambella, even knew what number their loved one was on that list!
In
a "Meles-style" disclaimer, he never acknowledged the Ethiopian military's deep
involvement in the killing, blaming other groups in the region for them. He
then minimized the importance of determining even an estimate of the number of
Anuak killed and pointed most of the blame for why it happened on the "weak
governance" of the former governor, Okello Akway. He gave himself credit for
taking charge of the situation after Akway fled the country. Yet, as one Anuak
woman angrily pointed out, the human rights crimes never stopped under his
charge and continued on under his leadership--- why?
Even
though Omot Olum publicly accused Okello Akway for leaving the country because
he was fearful, we know that Okello was the real hero. One Anuak man asked Omot Olum at the meeting
why he never died during the massacre of the Anuak leaders. However, most know the answer to that
question-that he did not die, nor did he have to "run for his life" because
obviously, as a government collaborator, he was never in any danger from the
perpetrators of the genocide-the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and the
government with which he remains close friends. The only ones he had to fear
were Anuak who might want to revenge the deaths of their loved ones who died
under his watch-perhaps that is why he discharged his Anuak bodyguards and
replaced them with the TPLF.
On
the other hand, Okello Akway was the real hero who refused to conform to the
EPRDF government directives out of his principles, breaking all his ties to
them as he stood up for the truth. This was a man of courage who was ready to
give his life.
Omot
Olum was the one in fear who caved in to the pressure from this regime of
death. By adopting the foundational principles of Meles-lying and deceit-he was
rewarded for selling out on his people by his subsequent appointment as the
un-elected governor. He did not need to flee for his life, because he was now
initiated into the ranks of loyal collaborators. On the other hand, Okello
Akway became a prime target of the EPRDF fury and had to flee for his life. He
had seen Omot Olum hand over the list of the Anuak to be killed, something that
could later on indict Omot Olum and others.
There
were many other men and women-including Nuer, Highlanders, and others whose
acts of courage should be lifted up in memory as the real heroes of Gambella
who protected the Anuak from death. They saw their friends and neighbors as
human beings, upholding the principles of God our Creator in caring about the
lives of His creation.
The
meeting lasted six hours. Doug McGill stayed through to the end in order to
conduct the promised private interview with Omot Olum; however, even though
Akway Cham attempted to hold up his end of the deal, Olum had no such
intention. As Doug asked him for that interview, he was surrounded by
"bodyguards" and quickly left the room.
In
response to McGill's persistence, he simply said, "Later," but there was no
"later." One of the bodyguards physically shoved McGill away and the group
"disappeared" into a private location. What is really wrong with Ethiopia came
to the Four Points Sheraton on that day. Even the little bit we saw was too
much. Imagine what it is like where there are no restraints!
Back
in Gambella, the people fear Olum and hope that Anuak here, living in a free
country, will not trade in development for justice. They hope that the people
will not forget about them but will unite and speak out in their behalf with a
loud voice because they can only speak in whispers. One Anuak said, "Since the
killing, Omot Olum has never went to the Anuak elders, traveling throughout the
region to talk to the people. I am wondering why he is traveling thousands of
miles away to talk to the Anuak in North America when we, the real victims, are
right here?" The only reason we can think of is that he has been sent there by
his boss, Meles Zenawi, in order to silence the Anuak in the Diaspora as they
have done it here!"
During
Omot Olum's talk, he told the Minnesota Anuak: "We need you in Gambella. You
need to become part of the democratic Gambella. Now, there is peace in Gambella
and the Ethiopian government is wanting you to come back to invest in helping
develop your region. We need the Anuak
to come back home to build up the region. Without Anuak from America coming
back, there will not be progress. We especially need the educated Anuak."
One
of the Anuak from Kansas responded privately by saying, "Omot should start by
exhuming the bodies of those in the mass graves first before he offers the
living to come back and possibly killed them like the others!"
We
expect the same when Omot Olum visits Canada this weekend. He is planning to meet with the Gambella
people on Saturday morning, June 7, 2008. Location First Church of the Nazarene,
65 Richard Way S.W. Calgary Alberta. There will be some Anuak who will boycott
the meeting and others who will want to confront him. The blood of their fellow
Anuak cries out for real answers!
Let
us keep up our battle until justice comes not just to Gambella, but to all nine
regions of Ethiopia! May God lead and
help us as we fight for truth, justice and freedom!
-----------------
For
more information please contact Mr. Obang Metho, by email at:
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